Starter Full Body Workout Thoughts

[savage250]

Hey, I know there are lots of threads out there for workouts, but I was hoping to get a little feedback or input on the full body plan I am just starting out with. Plan is to do this 3 days a week, with cardio (running/biking) on other days. Currently 5'-10 around 220 so not in great shape but looking for overall fitness and strength.

Typically one warm up set, then 3 sets of 8-10 reps of each.

Day 1
Barbell squat (on back)
Barbell benchpress
Pull ups (assisted right now)
Dumbbell side lateral raise
Bicep curl
Tricep rope push down (this is a superset with the bicep curl)
Plank for 45sec to 1 minute

Day 2
Dumbbell overhead press
Bent over row (dumbbell)
Bulgarian split squat
Bench dips
Hammer curl (dumbbell)
Tricep extension (cable) (superset with Hammer curl)
Hanging leg raise

Day 3
Deadlift (trap bar)
Incline bench press (dumbbell)
Shoulder press (dumbbell)
Romanian Deadlift
Pushups
Inverted Row (superset with pushups)
Reverse Lunges

Thanks.

 

[elephantrider]

Typically one warm up set, then 3 sets of 8-10 reps of each

For warm-up, I like to do sets of 5, 4, 3, and then 2, increasing in weight up to my first working set weight, for the two reps, or maybe even more. As you start training your overall work capacity (total sets x reps) will be low, but will increase as you adapt to training. Don't be afraid to start with just one work set, or take it very easy on the reps and intensity until you adapt.

As for your exercise selection, overall each day looks like too much for starting out. You either wont be able to get through it, or of you do you will be over stressed, or will wind up wasting your time doing junk reps that don't benefit you. All of the exercises look like good quality exercises, but just too much for one workout to be beneficial especially when starting out. Your exercise sequence also has you going back and forth between muscle groups instead of doing one main exercise like squats and then finishing off with say lunges, BSS, or leg extensions to increase quad hypertrophy. I'd pair things down, and add exercises and sets as needed as you adapt.

Right now I am only doing lower body, back, and chest on separate days 2x per week each (plus accessories like curls and extensions), just too keep stress and recovery more manageable each day. This is just me though.

 

[ColPenguin]

That isn't a novice "starter" program. The programming is too unfocused.

Do something like Starting Strength, 3 days a week consistently for 6 months.

Barbell squats, deadlift, bench and barbell OHP. Add in chinups and power cleans as you progress through the program. Chinups are a way better exercise than curls, because they engage your back muscles and improve grip strength which complement the other main compound lifts you'll be performing in the program.

When the starting program is no longer sustainable, then change up the programming. It's not a forever program, but a good 6 month to 1 year foundation.

 

[Maverick1]

@savage250 - meet @Coach Chris

 

[180ls1]

Looks good! You may not be able to recover from 3x per week + lots of cardio and there is no reason why you cant make significant strength gains just 1-2x week for a LONG time (if you are untrained) so I would be tempted to start there.

Always remember, the biggest thing is getting there and trying to improve. That always trumps "perfection."

 

[Ross]

Looks good, biggest thing you can do is be DILIGENT and ConSiSTEnt The thing that destroys so many is the yo-yo plan. If you can find these two items in your repertoire you will be fine decades later

 

[Coach Chris]

Day 3
Lunges are a redundant exercise. You're already doing back squat, split squat and trap bar deadlift
Anterior delts are going to be crushed by incline bench, oh press and pushups all in one workout.
Ditch push up and swap shoulder press for DB Upright row

Add in hamstring curl somewhere. Short head of Biceps Femoris only does knee flexion

You don't have an exercise that trains the long heads of the Triceps or Biceps Brachaii

Good Journey!

 

[bluesulphur]

That isn't a novice "starter" program. The programming is too unfocused.

Do something like Starting Strength, 3 days a week consistently for 6 months.

Barbell squats, deadlift, bench and barbell OHP. Add in chinups and power cleans as you progress through the program. Chinups are a way better exercise than curls, because they engage your back muscles and improve grip strength which complement the other main compound lifts you'll be performing in the program.

When the starting program is no longer sustainable, then change up the programming. It's not a forever program, but a good 6 month to 1 year foundation.

Rippetoe is the way.

 

[elephantrider]

Do something like Starting Strength, 3 days a week consistently for 6 months.

Rippetoe is the way.

Starting Strength is a mediocre, at best, beginner program that has deficiencies. A beginner can get results with it, but after a few months it is lacking training volume (it lacks deadlift volume from the get go) to continue progression, and/or lay the foundation for subsequent stages of training. Six months is too long to be doing it, let alone twelve months. Just my opinion on it.

 

[LongWayAround]

In my opinion, that's too many exercises. It also seems like undefined goals.

If you're admittedly in less than ideal condition and spending half your time doing cardio, simplify your lifting. Push/pull, upper and lower body. Forget all of the curl/isolation b.s.

Squat variation every day. Push/pull upper body compound movements in horizontal and vertical planes. Dumbbell RDL for a hinge movement.

3 x 10 is dumb in my opinion also. It's not enough volume for endurance, not intense enough for real strength gains. It will certainly be better than the couch, but it's kind of a gym bro myth.

Your warm-up should be something dynamic that gets your heart and respiratory rates elevated. Walking into the gym and doing one half-assed set of light weight isn't a warm-up. Do something taxing so your nervous system is actually primed for exertion. I like to hit the rower first. You'll recover from it fine, suck in a bunch of oxygen, and get the blood pumping.

 

[teamwhitebelly]

program in front squats and eliminate some of the aesthetic moves

 

[Poser]

Starting Strength is a mediocre, at best, beginner program that has deficiencies. A beginner can get results with it, but after a few months it is lacking training volume (it lacks deadlift volume from the get go) to continue progression, and/or lay the foundation for subsequent stages of training. Six months is too long to be doing it, let alone twelve months. Just my opinion on it.

Its only designed to last a few months -the first few months that capitalize on the novice effect. Few people will stay on SS NLP for 12 months.

 

[mtwarden]

Looks a little futzy to me—simplify!

day 1 bench & squats (throw in pullups/dips/core between sets)

day 2 deadlifts & ohp (throw in chin-ups/lunges/core between sets)

The four major lifts on a progressive schedule (I use Wendler, but there are others)

done and done

 

[Kenny Hart]

Like others have said, I wouldn't call this a beginner workout from an endurance and workload standpoint, yet it's not focused enough to maximize your time spent on each group.

There are certain muscle groups that you don't necessarily want to do on the same day, such as legs and bent-over back exercises. If you are loading and executing your legs properly, your lower back and core are also heavily worked. You won't be able to recover enough to maximize your efforts on anything else to do while bent-over.

Workouts are highly personal, but for high-fatiguing exercises of one muscle group, I prefer to super-set them with something that doesn't use the same group.

I also agree with statements above that 3 sets is fine to get started, but I can feel the difference in fatigue with 4 or 5. Normally I'm trying to get 10 sets per muscle group, per day, and I try to work out the same muscle groups twice per week, separated as far as possible. This means my quantity of different exercises is a bit mor limited than you have here per week, and I'll alternate different exercises each week to shake things up a bit.

With your desired exercises, I'd personally break it up more like below. Again, I still think it's going to be a bit much, especially if you are fatiguing your muscle groups effectively. I added some to consider in italics and crossed out redundancies, as your groups were weighted a little strange. This sorta evens out time spent on each area:

Day 1
Pull ups (assisted right now) - just knock these out first, as they won't affect your bench, but would crush your back on back-day. Other benefit is you get bonus back day in the week. Or you could move to back day if you'd prefer.

Set 1:
Barbell benchpress
Bicep curl

Set 2:
Incline bench press (dumbbell)
Hammer curl (dumbbell) Do wide curls instead, as they will more effectively grow your biceps from a aesthetic perspective

Set 3:
Incline Fly
Bulgarian split squat (get these bad boys out of the way before leg day)
-I alternate Reverse Lunges with BSS every week

Set 4 (abs):
Plank for 45sec to 1 minute (once you can hold planks for a minute, you aren't using the time effectively and need to incorporate more efficient abs)

Day 2
Set 1:
Barbell squat (on back)
Dumbbell overhead press
Shoulder press (dumbbell) see these as same workout

Set 2:
Deadlift (trap bar)
Romanian Deadlift (if you're just starting, get good at Romanian Deadlifts first before worrying about doing 2 deadlift sets per week, or going heavy with bar)
Dumbbell side lateral raise

Set 3:
Sumo Squat
Upright Row (PLEASE look at how to do these correctly with external rotation and less weight, one of my favorites but I tore my rotator cuff years ago doing them the same stupid way everybody who wants to look as cool as possible does them...if you feel your shoulders bottoming out when the weights reach chest-height, you're doing them incorrectly)

Set 4 (abs)
Hanging leg raise (better ab exercise, but this may make you feel like throwing up after doing all the legs )

Day 3
Set 1:
Bent over row (dumbbell)
Tricep extension (cable)
Tricep rope push down (I see these as the same exercise, but maybe I'm misunderstanding)

Set 2:
Back Extension (dumbell)
Bench dips

Set 3:
Reverse Fly (dumbell)
Bent-over Tricep Kickbacks

Set 4 (burnout):
Inverted Row
Pushups

Optional - maybe just move your leg day abs here


Hope all that helps

 

[Kenny Hart]

To add to the above, if you are truly just starting out lifting, consider doing only sets 1 and 2 of each day, and maybe add a 4th lift of each . If you overwork yourself and are extremely sore all week, you are going to be discouraged and quit.

Instead, spend the extra time doing yoga or flexibility work if you don't do so already. It's just as, if not arguably more, important, and will help greatly with recovery.

Also, don't feel like you have to do boring, arduous cardio every other day. Again, it's something that is horrendous from a sustained interest perspective. If you hate running and never grow into it, you'll eventually stop. I would highly suggest finding an activity or hobby that you enjoy with an anerobic element to it, and doing that for most of your "cardio" workouts.

I used to do triathlons and marathons and spent a lot of time on the pavement. Now I only do trail runs because I enjoy them, and that's probably twice a month.

I eventually got into Jiu jitsu and Muay Thai, and go to multiple sessions per week with a handful of good friends and have a blast. They are highly social, and far more taxing forms of cardio once you get up to speed. I also gained a huge benefit to shoulders, biceps, and core muscle groups, and can spend less time working them with weights.

You mentioned biking. There are probably group rides in your area where people get together and cruise...makes for a far more enjoyable experience than forcing yourself to ride around alone all the time. It also forces you to keep a higher output to hang with the group.

Rucking or backpacking is another one that has the added benefit of actually being a practical strength for our hobby.

Good luck!

 

[TaperPin]

Skinny calves make beach muscles look larger, but calf raises 2x or 3x times a week really help in steep mountain hunting, or wildland fire fighting. It’s one of those things that don’t even require weights if you do one leg at a time. Go up somewhat slow, at max contraction squeeze hard, down somewhat slow. Go to exhaustion toes in one set, then toes out for a set and foot straight for a set. Before you know it, girls will be whistling when you’re wearing shorts walking down the street minding your own business. *chuckle*

 

[savage250]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[Fowl Play]

Lots of good comments above. I’ll just add, if you are just starting out. Spend time getting your squat and deadlift form correct from the get-go. Amazing lifts but you can easily injure yourself going heavy with bad form. You’ll loose a ton of progress nursing an injury for a few weeks if you do. If you can find a trainer for a couple sessions great, if not video yourself from the side and compare to training videos online or ask for evaluation on strength forums etc. It’s not hard, but absolutely critical.

 

[droptine818]

I have been doing a full body split for few months now and really like it. Basically I just do 2 sets of 2 exercises per muscle group each day (3-4 days a week). I typically just do each movement to failure and decrease the weight on the second set of each movement with the first set being 80% or so of my max. A lot of the time I don’t actually stick with any particular plan of what exercises I am going to do. I just try to do one dominant compound movement (back squat, RDL, etc) and one supporting accessory movement. It keeps things fresh and lets me get a lot of variety in

 

[3325]

3 x 10 is dumb in my opinion also…….it’s kind of a gym bro myth.

I believe the origin of 3x10 was post WWII physical therapy. It was two warmup sets and a work set calculated using a 10 rep max: 1x10 with 50%, 1x10 with 75%, and 1x10 with 100%. The last set might be taken to muscle failure.

I suppose 3x10 has become kind of a gym bro thing, but if done as originally intended, it’s not too different than the HIT programs of people like Jones and Mentzer.

I like five minutes on the rower before strength training.